Bringing on Back the Good Times
Since they were children in Brooklyn; Billy (Michael Douglas), Paddy (Robert De Niro), Archie (Morgan Freeman) and Sam (Kevin Kline) have been best friends and even almost 60 years later they are in touch with each other despite having moved to different states. So when Billy, whilst giving an eulogy at a friend's funeral, decides to propose to his much younger girlfriend he calls his friends and before they know it the four guys are off to Vegas for a bachelor party. Well Vegas has changed since they were their last together and issues between the friends surface but together the friends are taking over Vegas.
It sounds like a good idea, get several acting greats together and place them in a comedy about four senior citizens hitting Vegas and acting like old degenerates. And then they make the movie and suddenly you realise those actors you grew up watching are now mostly old enough to be drawing a pension and it gives you a reality check that you are older than you think you are. Okay maybe that is just me, but these movies whilst entertaining tend to make you yearn to go back in time and stay at an age when what you enjoyed as comedy was on trend.
Anyway so what do you get in "Last Vegas", a lot of great comedy from those veteran actors who get to deliver what they know best. Basically four older guys behaving badly in Vegas and getting up to all sorts of things along the way. As such there is a lot going on as we have some jokes about growing old, some friendly poking fun at old people, some jokes about the way things have changed, old people gambling, getting drunk, dancing, going on the lam and much more. But of course you can't have just jokes and alongside this we have some inner fighting and even a romantic subplot. There is too much to mention even though I have to say that all the different parts have been done in other movies.
But do you know what, whilst I could bemoan that "Last Vegas" doesn't have much originality it would be being unfair because all of the familiar parts work well. But more importantly having Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline and Mary Steenburgen in one movie means laughs and the sort of humour which if you grew up in the 80s you will enjoy. I know I am being repetitive but I am getting older so excuse me, I miss what I enjoy as humour when most modern comedies seem to trade on obnoxious characters and so having old style humour is great.
What this all boils down to is that on one hand "Last Vegas" doesn't offer up anything new but it works the familiar well. More importantly it delivers the sort of comedy which I grew up on and have begun to miss with all the central cast doing a great job on bringing on back the good times even if it does also make you feel old.
